World Championship. “They just want to show themselves as football players,” plagues Iran’s coach

Iran’s Portuguese coach, Carlos Queiroz, explained on Monday that his players, who thrashed England 6-2 to qualify for the World Cup, were frustrated by the political situation in their country and asked to leave.to play football“.

“You can’t imagine what these guys have gone through behind the scenes in the last few days, just because they want to prove themselves as footballers.“, he said at the press conference.

Refused to sing the anthem

Team Melli players have decided not to sing their national anthem ahead of their match against England at the Khalifa Stadium in what has been interpreted as support for protesters and opponents in Iran. Their captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh explained last week that the players will decide.collectivelyto sing or not to sing the anthem?

For Carlos Queiroz, it is obvious that the current political context in Iran affects his players, who, he stressed, are not responsible for the events taking place in Iran, nor for the calendar of the 2022 World Cup.

“They are just ordinary guys. It’s not their fault the World Cup is happening right now. Please, teachers, moralists, let these boys play football. It’s not fair to bring them into this World Cup and ask them things that are not their responsibilities” pleaded the Portuguese technician.

To bring pride and joy to the people of Iran

“They want to bring pride and joy to their people.” he continued. “Obviously we have feelings and beliefs and we will express them in due course“.

“The aim is to make sure that our players feel that we are in a great show, that their minds are only focused on football.he explained, while the Iranian team is now focused on their next match against Wales on Friday.

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